FAK competes for Src to promote migration against invasion in melanoma cells.

Melanoma is one of the most deadly cancers because of its high propensity to metastasis, a process that requires migration and invasion of tumor cells driven by the regulated formation of adhesives structures like focal adhesions (FAs) and invasive structures like invadopodia. FAK, the major kinase of FAs, has been implicated in many cellular processes, including migration and invasion. In this study, we investigated the role of FAK in the regulation of invasion.

Thymoquinone reduces migration and invasion of human glioblastoma cells associated with FAK, MMP-2 and MMP-9 down-regulation.

Glioblastoma represent the most frequent primary tumors of the central nervous system and remain among the most aggressive human cancers as available therapeutic approaches still fail to contain their invasiveness. Many studies have reported elevated expression of the Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) protein in glioblastoma, associated with an increase in the rates of both migration and invasion. This designates FAK as a promising target to limit invasiveness in glioblastoma.